PETKAT Adventures

Photos: Newcastle, Hunter Valley, Barrington Tops

petkat — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 12:08:00 GMT

Photos: Norfolk Island

petkat — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 23:36:00 GMT

Australia

petkat — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 22:28:00 GMT

Norfolk Island-a wonderful place to relax,stunning scenery,a brutal history

Getting ready

petkat — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 21:50:00 GMT

Passports organised, bags all but packed!

Santiago

petkat — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:28:00 GMT

We are now back on foot and relying on our own instincts again.

What a wonderful cruise we had with great excursions and lovely new friendships made.

Arrived here this morning after docking at Port valpaiso.We shared a van with friends and Peter found a hostel around the corner from our friends hotel in an old world area of cobbled tree lined streets with lamplights.

We are hoping to go to a national park and do some rafting and visit a farm steeped in history before the flight wednesday night.

will fill in more details once home.

we are due to arrive friday morning about 7am.

there will certainly be some catching up to do.

love to all who have kept up with us in our travels. it has been an adventure of a lifetime.

Gallery: cruise

petkat — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 09:51:00 GMT

argentina-chile

Ushuaia

petkat — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 08:30:00 GMT

Hi folks from Ushuaia, in the very very south of South America!

This morning we sailed around Cape Horn in fine weather, calm seas, a little bit of wind and cool temperatures. We could spot little penguins swimming and darting about, a lot of seals having a great time in the water, Peter saw two dolphins and we think we saw a small pilot whale. The scenery on the way to Ushuaia has been magnificent today and is the start of many more such scenes I am sure.

We didn't get to the Faulkland Islands as there was a force 11 gale and the captain thought it wiser to change course. <our cabin is in a super position and still slept very well.

We continue to keep our healthy meals and look for any justification for them....milk, calcium.fruit, protein....any excuse will do, but there will be a diet once home.Any more hints for justifications are appreciated, Trish!

We are much more aware of the birds too Marty and Lauren and often mention you as we spot the birdlife.

Cruising

petkat — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:47:00 GMT

Today we are in puerto madryn, an appealing town in Patagonia.It is a glorious day and we have had really smooth sailing since we left Buenos Aires. We are pottering around here for a while and not taking an excursion which involved hours driving to see wildlife we have encountered at Galapagos.There will be more later on, closer to reach we think.

The ship is fantastic. it is clean and friendly and manageable, as far as size is concerned. Although I have been lost a few times!! Our cabin is very roomy with a large window and sitting room section.There is a small fridge and a tv with movies and cable, if you want to vege out in the cabin. We have enjoyed the entertainment very much. There has been ajuggling act, a dance/

song troupe ( with 2 girls from Oz who are excellent, a gaucho act which is first class.

The best I left till now to say.....the food is wonderful. It would be so easy to become a pig, as the food is available 24 hours. But we realised you had to go steady, or you wouldn't have clothes to wear by the time you had to go home!!! We eat in one of the three main restaurants where there is table service and the servings are sensible. For example, last night we had a seafood meal....seafood cocktail, then lobster,prawn and callimari in a mild sauce, and creme brulee and Peter had a fresh fruit tart....just to be healthy! :)

Also yesterday I learned the first 8 basic steps of the tango. it was good fun, but Peter wouldn't come along. I met a lovely Swiss lady who could dance and she knew the man's part so she helped me. I want to get better.

We are very much enjoying this rather indulgent part of our trip.

Buenos Aires

petkat — Sun, 6 Jan 2008 09:50:00 GMT

The stop over in Buenos Aires has done us a lot of good. We have stayed at an older hotel, Tucuman Palace, right near the city centre.It is really clean and with a back room, it is very quiet, so we have had a good sleep at night.We were glad to have a last breakfast of croissant with peach jam this morning however! :) Its location made it easy to pop back there for a quick rest or to drop a parcel off and so on.

We have gone on many walks.That is almost an understatement....most days we have walked until we nearly dropped!Most days it has been quite hot which was a good excuse to stop now and then and have a cool drink.

We walked to the San Telmo district, an older district near the old port area. Some of the streets are cobbled there and there are old buildingsand tree lined streets. here we decided the policy , If it poops it, you should scoop it, should be enforced.You had to be vigilant and keep an eye out for dangers underfoot, not only with poo, but with footpaths in dire need of repair.This area is famous for antique shops.We thought it very expensive.We had a cool drink at the historic Del Viejo Hotel (1890s), and a lught lunch in the Parque Lezama.The trees there were planted back in 1857, by merchant who owned the land. later his widow sold the land to the city council.

We went to the ^Plaza de Mayo and and saw where Evita gathered the masses and Madonna was portrayed doing the same in the movie. I went to Mass in the cathedral nearby and just before mass watched the two guards on duty at gen San Martin's tomb, go through the routine of being relieved of their duty, for the mass.We also went to the Ricoleta cemetry to see Evit's family mausoleum.it is the only one in the cemetry that has fresh flowers put on it every day.

Our favourite place is the San Martin Plaza. The park there is beautiful with shady trees and many people taking advantage of the beautiful setting. We also think it could be called passion park as there are many couples in very passionate embraces there, especially as they are going theit separate ways after work.

We enjoyed Argentinian steak a few times, and were not disappointed.The tango is a fantastic dance and I would love to be able to do it.The Cafe tortoni is certainly worth a visit. People line up out on the footpath for a table. The tables are small wooden, marble topped ones, very old. The waiters are in suits with bowties.

We found a great place for a set lunch,. It is called Populus (art and food), as it displays original art work on the walls. It is new and trendy. The set was great, 2 courses of tasty food with a glass of wine and a coffee, for 23 pesos.

Will add more another time, but now we need to have a coffee and head to the dock to board the ship for the two week cruise to the south and up the west coast through the Chilean fjords to san Tiago, and then home. it is hard to believe that we are up to the last leg of our adventure.

Iguassu Falls

petkat — Sun, 6 Jan 2008 05:37:00 GMT

Another dream come true! To see Iguassu Falls!And they were wonderful. :)

AERU sur redeemed itself by flying on time and with our luggage, to Buenos Aires. This is a huge, busy city, but we had an ok feeling about it, considering we don't like cities much.Anne marie had warned us about the holes in the wall only giving out small amounts of money and to stock up on us$ which was great advice. We stayed in a modest hotel which was right in the centre, in the street which is not open to cars. I was still not well from the burger bug, so we only ventured out for a while onto the two main shopping strips, Florida and Lavelle.

The next morning we were up and away, back on LAN and heading to Puerto Iguassu, without accomodation, because our booking was confirmed and then rejected, and it looked as if it was a major weekend there as everywhere seemed booked out. This was confirmed again at the airport when a very helpful tourist rep phoned endless places without luck. He finally got us a room at Hotel Alexander, which proved very tired, with grumpy staff.I didn't like it at all, but it was a place to sleep, which we did well, and shower, with hot water! and it was right near the bus station for us to get the falls.

The falls are as wonderful as Therese implied when she talked to me about them.You just ooooh and ahhh all the time. We went over two days and got a slightly different perspective on the second day, as there had been athunder storm and more rais on day one, which made the amount of water tearing over the falls increase dramatically. On day two the mist from the falls was greater and the island San Martin was closed because the river level up too high for the little ferry boats to land.

When we arrived we went to the upper level walking circuit. This takes you to the falls on the Argentinian side.These are wide falls, with many falls making the overall scene. They are quite magnificent. Then we went futher up the Iguassu River and walked the very very long walkway to the Devil's Throat Falls, just across from the Brazilian side.These falls are astounding! The power of the water falling over the rocks , unbelieveable.The spray rises so high that it then falls down over you as if it is raining! You get soaked.

It was so wonderful that we did these walks each day, just to take it all in.

The second day we did the lower level circuit for a different perspective.We also had a power boat ride to see the devil's Throat Falls from the river and went into where the San Martin Falls flow, but the driver didn{t go into these falls as with the rain they were too powerful. We went into a smaller one next to it. The spray was so powerful, it stung your eyes and you could not open them.

We also took a quiet raft ride up on the Iguassu River, top end.Here we ahd one of a few special moments with animals.A small turtle swam right up to the raft, and popped its head up as if to say hello. We were amazsd as usually they take off as soon as they sense someone nearby.We had stood and watched a 2.5-3m caimon from the upper walkway, before that. it was just redding water there by the river bank. Some young boys got impatient and tossed some leaves over. You can imagine how gently they would have touched the water, but boy, that caimon reacted so quickly, pity any animal that ventured by there that day!

The first day there were many butterflies about. One attached itself to my backpack as the blue in its wings matched the blue of the bag. It hitched a ride for ages. The same happened to Peter the next day, only this butterfly had a strip of red that matched his bag.On the outside of its wings it had a cream and brown pattern that had a perfect 8 on each wing.

We were surprised to see a huge cream Sheraton Hotel, with a wonderful view of the falls, as everything is so well run.It does not dominate the landscape fortunately.

We are looking forward to seeing the photos.We have not had the opportunity to get more mountain photos for Greg, but might do so in the fjords.

So this was a really wonderful two days, even though the second day was a bit wet, it brought its own uniqueness to the time.The place was pure magic!Peter and I just have to pinch ourselves sometimes.

Gallery: la paz- buenos aires

petkat — Sun, 6 Jan 2008 01:48:00 GMT

Christmas in Santa Cruz

petkat — Wed, 2 Jan 2008 09:06:00 GMT

We have covered quite a bit of territory since the last blog entry.

We had a treat and spent Christmas at a rather nice hotel in Santa Cruz,Bolivia.On 23rd from Sucre, AeroSur once again ran late, but our luggage turned up , so that was a relief.During the wait we made friends with a young NZ couple travelling around South America. They had been to the salt lakes and had had a marvellous time.We are a bit disappointed that we were not able to do this adventure, but each time we looked at planning it, there were good reasons to postpone it.Now we know that the road would probably have been really really rough and not good at all for Peter's back.Still, Caroline had some great photos which we loved to see, especially the ones you can have fun making because of the lack of perspective.

It was nice to have a hotel pick-up at the airport.We could have been somewhere in the Pacific or North Queensland, as the weather was warm and we had Christmas Day by the pool,with palm trees around.We had company with new friends, a couple from England who are returning to UK after two years as ESL teachers, and the NZ couple who were very happy to join us as the they were at a loose end and in a pokey hostel. We had a really pleasant, totally lazy day.We have out thoughts with folk at home, and it was great to have messages from family and friends. We even struck Morgan and Greg and Ross on messenger.

Christmas Eve we spent walking about the city square.There were lovely decorations of large angels playing instruments and street decorations and lights. This square was the setting for demonstrations only a week or so earlier. Anne marie and Ray had watched a sleep-in going on in this square,from the Irish Pub overlooking the square. The Irish Pub was closed for renovations by the time we arrived.It was very hot by the middle of the day and Peter was really feeling the heat,as we had been up in the higher altitudes for so long. As long as there was aircon he didn't mind where we were!We even went into a shop for a sale as it was airconditioned.That turned into a massive learning curve when I bought a top Peter found.The sales girl wrapped it and then gave me a printout from the computer. She directed me downstairs and also went herself and gave my purchase to someone at the right hand end of a very long counter. I had to take my place in a long queue at the left hand end and wait....and wait....and wait....for my turn.The prices were in American dollars, which I paid.The change was given in Bolivianos,but not before the guy had to work out the exchange rates and then he asked me for some Bolivianos as he didn't have enough change.I then had to go to the other end and collect my parcel, which had been tagged and placed on one of the many shelves according to some system, I guess, but they took a long time to find it!This is done for all purchases.We think it is to do with security for the money.We had heard that sometimes, because they keep the money and change so low, you will be given the equivalent of the shortchanged part ( probably only a few cents worth ) in sweets. This has only happened to us once, in Iguassu Falls.

That night Russ and Trish took us to a Cuban restaurant that did not disappoint, and we had a hearty meal of typical Cuban fare, pork and rice with beans. We walked across the street to Mass for 10pm Mass. The church was packed and we had to stand...which got difficult as it was a very long Mass. There was a lovely choir.A tradition we did not know about was that people bring the infant Jesus from their nativity set and place it around the altar.There are many sizes and styles, as you can imagine, and some are dressed beautifully.We had seen these sets and outfits in the Christmas markets.After Mass the priest blessed both the statues and the people gathered there to collect them, with generous amounts of water.I wished I had realized this, because I would have bought one to have blessed and take home.

Boxing Day we went out to a Biocenter,called Guembe. It is a lovely centre, about a 20 min drive out of Santa Cruz, that concentrates on breeding butterflies.We were given a tour of the laboratory, sort of, and grounds and into a large butterfly dome. There were not many butterflies in there that we could see. However we did return to the dome later to find a sloth, as one fellow had said there were several in there. Well, sharp eyed Pete found one quite quickly.It was a thrill to be able to watch it feeding on the leaves. We could watch closely as we were on a high walking platform.

This park has a camping area and cabins in huge grounds and many pools to swim in Some of the pools have small water falls.We had a lovely swim in a long pool that you do a decent lenght in. There was also a lagoon to paddle kayaks and another to fish. It was easy to spend the day there in such lovely surroundings. Unfortunately, I think I had a burger with a bug and got vomitting and the rest during the night. Thank goodness for stoppers!It was a very long flight to Buenos Aires the next morning.Both of us have have quite a few tummy bugs this trip, which has surprised us as we had not a one in Vietnam/Cambodia. But we do not drink the glass of beer as we did religiously as we did then.

Gallery: Bolivia

petkat — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 03:43:00 GMT

Gallery: various

petkat — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 03:17:00 GMT

Sucre

petkat — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 22:20:00 GMT

What a nice surprise Sucre has been.

We needed to spend an extra day here because flights were booked out and our first impressions,coupled with the travel warnings, had us a bit concerned.It didn´t take long to feel very comfortable and happy to be here.

Aerosur has a monopoly here, until next month when LAN comes on the scene. It will need to get itself much better organised if it is to survive. Luggage for about 30 people didn´t turn up, as some flights had been cancelled on previous days and there was other cargo that had to come. However they didn´t tell anyone that their luggage was not going on the same flight. When there is only one flight a day it means it would be good to have a change of clothes and a toothbrush! We did have that fortunately, but some didn´t. And it meant a young Danish girl had to wait a day and not travel on as planned.

Then we had a taxi driver from hell from the airport ....but that was it!

Oh, did I mention that this airstrip is one of the most dangerous ones to land on as it is barely the length required, and they had to dig into a hill for more length. Luckily I did not notice the brake marks on the tarmac when we came in, but they are there! Take off is fine evidently....well, I hope that's true.

The hostal is gorgeous, white Spanish Colonial, beautifully kept, terraces and flower pots, large rooms with antigue furniture, very quiet at night, hot showers and firm beds.To boot, there is a breakfast fit for kings and queens!Apart from the fruit, cereal, eggs, toast and rolls that come with good breakfasts here, there are crepes, cakes and lemon pie!! Now that is a fine way to start the day! :) :)

This hostal is called Hostal de Su Merced.

For our first day we decided to have a taxi take us to the main attractions that were , as it happened to be right across town from each other.The hostal arranged it and we were very lucky to get a man who is just lovely and has a very clean taxi.It ends up from conversation that he is actually an agricultural engineer, but there is no work for engineers here, so for the past 12 months he has been driving a taxi, something he said a lot of people like him are doing.His wife is a laboratory technician.

I was speaking to a young man, also an engineeer, who had come home for Christmas from working in Italy for a few years, who said the same thing.

He made sure we were looked after wherever we went and was a real asset. He actually got us in to see the felt hat factory, which is famous in Sucre. He had not seen inside it either, so enjoyed it too. It is quite a process to make a felt hat from the raw, dirty wool to the hat shape, which goes off to be refined into a stylish finished product.

We visited La Glorieta Castle,built in the 19C by a fellow who made his money from the mines at Potosi and had a bank.This place has unusual styles and towers and in its heyday was very grand, with huge gardens and small manmade lakes.The couple built an orphanage at one end of the property and cared for 100 children,( they had no children themselves).We could not go in as they are renovating, but from looking through the windows, that are actually monogrammed in the family initials,inside is beautiful with parquit floors and goldleaf painted ceilings.It is good to see that such a place is being restored and will provide some income for people as a good tourist attraction.

Some of the grounds are there to walk through, and need some work,and some are now part of a military academy, but in one section there are playing fields and we watched a huge group of children on holiday camp having a ton of fun doing tug of war competitions.

We also stopped off at the cemetery since it is also a very important place in the city.It is a beautifully kept place and has mausoleums,sepulchers and old tree gardens.Many important people from Bolivian history are buried here.Rather unusual, is that students go there to study in the grounds.Our driver pointed out the inscription on the gated arch entrance, in Latin, Hodie Mihi cras Tibi. He said it means....Now for me,tomorrow for you. A rather sobering thought. Blessed is each day we have, I think.

We then drove over to the newest attraction I would think, Cao Orck'o. This is a wall with dinosaur tracks on it, about 5000tracks from many different animals, dating back about 68million years, to when there was a lake here.It was discovered as it is in a limestone quarry. Now of course it is not mined and one of the owners has built a small park beside the wall that displays lifesize models of some of the animals that made the prints. It is very well done.The site was discovered in 1994, but the park has been open just over a year.

Yesterday we headed to Potosi, about two and a half hours drive from here, with our taxi driver friend, because he is a safe driver,and good company, and he gave us a good deal. The buses were not recommended, so we thought, why not, as there was a lot to fit in in one day.

We were not disappointed. We drove through such differing mountain landscapes, that in themselves made the trip worthwhile.

Potosi has itself a sad history because the people were exploited by the Spanish who mined the silver in gigantic quantities and shipped it back to Spain.Now the mines are worked by the people in co-operatives and for private companies, and on Bolivian standards, they earn a high income. However on our tour the guide said that this year 64 people have died in the mines. We had a quick tour and had to get geared up in shirt and pants, helmet and light.We went into the first level and had to walk through some very muddy patches along the track for the little wagons that carry the sacks of minerals. The guide said that when you hear the rumbling noise get off to the side.....well, that meant leaning against the wall most of the time. We only had to do it once!You are advised to take a gift to the miners so you can photograph them, much to Peter's disgust! Anyway, I was not going to be inside a mine without the expected offering for the miners!! It is a bag, two actually, of coco leaves for them to chew to keep up their energy levels, cigarettes of a type that they can use (forget why)and sometimes a fuse and a stick of dynamite. Oh, also a small bottle of alcohol, white sugar cane alcohol.....more like metho!Light it and it would explode for sure.

There is a stature of the devil god for the mountain in an alcove and the guide took us through the ritual the miners regularily do for safety and good production. It was all very interesting.

We also looked through the mint and I went on a shortened tour of a convent called Santa Teresa, which has similarities to the one in Arequipa. Everything is beautifully restored and kept. The woman who took me through needed a key for each and every room we went in to. She had them all in a basket! some of the locks were wonderful.

The day was really busy and we headed off around 4.30pm, as my tour of the convent took one hour instead of 30mins....but the men were patient.Usually the tour is for two hours.

Something interesting the guide at the mint said was that there are enough minerals still in the mine for production to go on for another 500 years. Strange that after all the years of currency at the mint, hundreds of years, noe the Boliviann money is made in Canada, France and would you believe it , Spain. We couldn't quite grasp that one.

As well there was a safe bow for the transportation of money and it had a system of twelve locks that worked from the one key7keywhole.If you put the key in too far you disabled the system.The guide said that he had done that not long ago. There was another chest there with numerous hidden panels and you to know where they all were to unlock them all to open it.All these things were in place because of the shipping and pirates that were about.

Today Peter is trying to get us from Santa Cruz to Iguasu Falls and I am writing up a somewhat neglected blog. We can do with this sort of quiet day every now and then.

We have over the past three evenings, gone to concerts put on by the city for Christmas. The first featured a middle aged lady singer/guitar player, who was much loved by the audience.We left early as we couldn't understand a word and it was getting a bit tedious, as a woman with a toddler sat in front of Peter and she let the little stand on her lap and blocked evryone's view.The next evening was group of musicians that played some Christmas carols and other pieces, beautifully, in a small church.Last night we went part of the university, a beautiful room to hear a Jazz group. pianist,doublebass/cello player, 3 young women and 2 young men singers. They sang in English from West Side Story and other songs. They were great.

Gallery: trip

petkat — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:37:00 GMT

La Paz

petkat — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:50:00 GMT

Here we are in La Paz, the highest capital city in the world.It was quite an amazing view of the city as the bus arrived at the high outskirts and you looked down over the city spread over what once a crater and up the sides of the hills and mountains. In the background are snowcapped mountains.We were told that there can be a 10degree difference in temperature betwen the lowest and highest parts of the city. Also, water takes longer to boil here and boils at 85degrees.

The drive from Copacabana was very interesting and we could have been in New Zealand, we thought. We had to leave the bus at one point for us to catch a ferry across, while the bus went over on its own ferry.

The landscape changed to high plains and we drove through farming areas which we think were quite poor.The president has promised a redistribution of wealth and the people had a huge parade through the streets of La Paz that day. We passed parties going on in every village, with the Bolivian flags flying and chairs set out and food and drinks getting set up. There were also lots of weddings happening. The wedding gift stalls were set up with the presents wrapped up in cellophane.The ladies were out in their finery and best shawls.

This new policy has upset the richer areas of Sucre and Santa Cruz and there were some demomstrations there for independence!

The plains are very high and in some places not very far below the lower snowcapped mountain tops!

Peter did very well with his choice of hostal, as we just had to walk two blocks downhill to reach it.It didnt look much from the street, but after walking up the stairs it was really quiet and is a renovated old colonial Spanish house. Everything is clean and fresh and it was so nice, after the last couple of ordinary places. To boot there is a great coffee shop that serves good food and we go there for a buffet breakfast, as part of the accomodation deal. Yahoo! Cereal and real milk! What joy from simple pleasures..:)

We are close to the main part of town and have pottered around quite happily.I was able to walk across the steet to go to mass at the San Francisco church easily on Saturday night. The singing was lovely, led by a man playing a guitar.

Peter found a jumper that has arms long enough and a coat to use on the ship so he is happy.

Yesterday we took a tour to Tanakawa ( I must check spelling and edit )Will add some notes on this later. There is the site to walk through and an interesting museum that holds a lot of ceramics and some utensils.One incredible exhibit is a mummy in foetal position, as they were done, covered in a coarsely woven bag, head exposed. These were placed in little mudhouses which were built in special places. We saw some built high in difficult places in the mountains in Colca canyon.

Today we went Moon Valley on the outskirts of the city.This is so called because the soil has been eroded so severely by wind and rain that there are tall stalagnites, is the best way to describe them and furrows and it is an eery sight.

Tomorrow we have a day to walk to the main square and do whatever, as we decided it was not worth the risk of going all the way to the salt lake( about 12 hours ) to find it awash and not be able to see it properly. The travel agent there told the lady here he was not sure a tour could go yet.So we have to wait until Wednesday for a flight to Sucre, then to Santa Cruz for Christmas and after that to Iguasu Falls. The distances make things a bit tricky here.

Peter will put up some photos when he has access to a computer that he can use the camera connections with. Meanwhile, we are both fine and happy.

Copacabana,Bolivia

petkat — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 10:00:00 GMT

Here we are at Copacabana! Not the one Peter Allen sang about, but an unusual place just the same.

When we arrived it looked gorgeous, with the sun shining and the water of Lake Titicaca sparkling and blue.Along the lake side are tens of duck and swan paddle boats, which are used quite a lot by Bolivian holiday makers. One has the unusual name of Titanic!

One is even sitting over at the naval,coast guard station and it looks rather out of place there, as you could imagine! Peter has a snapshot of it and I am looking forward to seeing it.

We booked in to a very quaint hotel that Annemarie and Ray had used and loved, which is on the lakeside and overlooks all the activity.It needs some sprucing up, but has character with a beautiful garden restaurant out front. The man there seemed to be a bit of a grumpy bum but I warmed to him this morning, as I will relate further later.This place did not supply soap or toilet paper, as we understood it!But the bread at breakfast was warm, served in this clay pot that kept it warm.

The first night was uneventful, but last night there were some young Brits in.They got drunk, played bongo drums till 10ish, which I could cope with, then proceeded to change rooms, slam doors,talk ,laugh and so on for ages. It then resumed, without the drums, from 3-4am and then again about 6.30. We felt a bit cranky.When we went down to breakfast a group of them was eating, so I asked them did them they get much sleep last night because we didnt.Anyway I then went on about the racket and the inconsiderate young ones to the owner! He looked towards the group and said, i think it was the senoritas and pointed to them. We could have gone into hysterics.Anyway two girls apologised on their way out.Now we can laugh about it and we dont feel too bad considering the amount of sleep we have had.We think between us (AnneMarie and Ray) we have experienced the ying and the yang of the Llyenda Hostel.

The locals seem more aloof than those in Peru. There are many young tourists here and as well quite a few forgeiner hippie types who make and sell jewellery alongside the locals with their bags and crafts.There was one young couple on the island yesterday with jewellery out for passersby to see. On the way back they were on the grass with their twins,only a few months old. They were not Bolivian but had obviously chosen this simple isolated life. I wonder how it would be after a year or two.

Yesterday we had the day at Isla del Sol.It is a two hour boat trip from here. We think an enterprising Bolivian would make a good business from a speedier service.Anyway, the day was another glorious one and the scenery ,magical, with the islands, water and mountains ,some even snowcapped,around.Very much like Greece and Mediterranean we were told.

We got off at the northern end of the island and did a two hour walk to see some ruins.We followed a lady with her charges of two pigs and the litter of piglets along the waters edge, to then climb the hills. The altitude takes its toll and you get puffed quite quickly.We have not had altitude sickness thankfully, even though Puno and here are the highest points we have been.

We saw the major sites of the sacrifical Altar rock/area and the Chinkana temple/storehouse which you could not miss, the Spanish guide was no good for us.On the way back we wanted to note the Templo el Inca and sacred rock which we had missed on the way up.Luckily a man with his own guide pointed them out for us, as we would still be there searching for them. The temple, once covered in gold is a ruin with vine covered walls only left, after the looting over the years.The sacred rock is about 6-7 feet tall and obviously carved but it sits between a potato and corn field, on someones land. It just seemed so gorgeous and fitted with the whole scheme of things there. The people still live simple lives carrying water by donkey to parts of the land the old Incan irrigation system does not reach.They do cater for the busy tourist trade though and served fresh trout meals on the waterfront at one bay.

We hiked up to one restaurant at the top of the point and the view was amazing.....I know I have said that so many times!

We had another meal at Mankha Uta restaurant last night and tried one of the set menus. We had good chicken soup, trout, and a delicious lemon pie and two cocktails for 70B/sols, which is about $10. This is a very popular restaurant, but we didnt realise how good the sets were until our second visit.

Today there was fresh snow low on the hills down to near the water line further to the north of the lake and it is rainy , but looks like clearing.

We had made a very smooth crossing over the border into Bolivia on my birthday.It was a good trip in both the buses from Cusco to Puno and then Puno to Copacabana. We saw a lot of alpacas/llamas on these trips and even a woman washing the wool in a river. Sometimes we wonder where are all the animals that provide the wool for the millions of jumpers and so on that are sold everywhere! We were also surprised to spot many pink flamingoes in the rivers.

Our stay in Puno was very brief, because we were only really interested in seeing the floating islands.The bus got in on time around two and after finding a place to call homebase for the night we hot footed it to the harbour to get a boat out to the islands.We paid the 10 sol each for a ride in what they call a colectivo, which means when 6 people come, the boat goes.We waited a while and as it was late we got talked into paying for 6 so we could go. It does not work out to a lot anyway, and if we didnt go it would mean another day we did not want to spend there. Well, the engine wouldnt start, even with a second battery,and the blue smoke puffing out was impressive. Meanwhile we were drifting towards to the pleasure boats tied up in rows. A quick scramble by the driver with a pole and Peter pushing as well we got back to the jetty and then got moving, very slowly. These islands are quite a sight. We got off on two and walked around.These two islands held two communities of about 5 huts. The huts are one room with a bed mat and a wire to throw things over.The cooking is done outside on a tiny area and the pots and kettle sit on a multilevel stand a bit like a strawberry/herb pot affair.Unfortunately, the women want to sell things and we think that spoils it. One woman, called Maria wanted us to look in her house and little museum but after paying the extra for the ride we didnt have small money to give her. She did show us how she grinds the wheat seeds into a fine powder for cooking which was very interesting.

I had a bundle of small soap from the extras from hotel visits which a friend had suggested I save to give away here. When I started offering them, the women came running, much to Peters amusement, and I was glad there was enough for them all to get on on both little islands.

The islands go on for about a couple of kilometres and some of the huts now have tin rooves, some even tin walls which are covered in the reeds.The boats made from the reeds are given novelty features like dragon heads and frames that could take a canopy.

The boat driver did the dirty on the deal and wouldnt take us anywhere else, perhaps he was upset his Peruvian flag had flown away, and he said we had to go back to Puno.Peter said he was quite satisified as it would have been just more of the same, and then we were able to get our bus ticket for the morning organised before dark.I hope the boat owner uses his easily earned money on tuning up his engine. It needs it and the floorboards need repairing too.

the jungle

petkat — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:33:00 GMT

We have just returned from a wonderful time in the jungle on the Madre Dios River along from Puerto Maldonado.It is only a half hours flight from CUSCO and then about 2 hours in a boat.We decided to do a soft trip and stay at a good lodge, especially as it is the beginning of the wet season. It was a good decision. The lodge is very well run and we enjoyed good meals,a firm bed, and a clean room. The showers were cold, but refreshing, and after all, we were in the jungle!

The lodge has many trees that attract lots of birds that are always flying around and calling. There are four resident macaws and two trees full of weaver bird nests.

We had an excursion each day for the full morning, usually for 5 hours or so.. This was a good idea as it did get hot and sometimes there was quite a bit of walking involved.One track was very muddy and went quite a way in to a lagoon.We could hear the red howler monkeys off in the distance making some very impressive calls.

There is a small island in the river where you can see about four types of monkeys. We also spotted monkeys on two other walks pottering away in the trees. We spotted caimons, a huge anaconda, tiny bats inside tree trunks, tarantullas,many different birds,butterflies and mushrooms, turtles.

Perhaps the gem was the two year old tapir that wanders around the lodge and into the jungle as it pleases.It is called Karina.When it is patted in a certain spot it drops to the ground waiting for a longer pat.It followed us to a small lagoon one afternoon as we had a short excursion. The guide got the boat ready and it got in and swam around the boat and ploughed through the weed at great knots. It also has a fondness for chewing on anything it can get its mouth to, as Peter found out when the washing line fell. We blame his wrecked jocks on karina!

We were able to have a swim in the cold pool after the excursions and rock in the hammocks beside the river.

Puerto Maldonaldo is a rough and dusty place so we decided to not overnight there. AeroCondor was going to charge us $50 dollars to change flights but ended up putting us in the plane without doing so. However as we came off the plane we had a fellow to greet us to ask us to pay! We have never been escorted through an airport before and it rattled me no end. Anyway after some discussion the guy said it was up to Peter if he wanted to pay.So Peter didnt.I will be relieved to get across the border in a few days. It seemed ridiculous as there were more than twenty spare seats on the plane.We usually use Lan and didnt realize the woman at the agency had booked the return flight with AeroCondor.

Anyway, such are our adventures!

Cusco

petkat — Fri, 7 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT

We had a smooth flight from Arequipa to Cusco.It was even better when the hotel picked us up . Unfortunately, Peter was crook and after organising the train tickets for Machu Picchu he went to bed and didn´t surface until the next morning, but well, which was the main thing.I am so glad to be able to write that altitude sickness avoided me this time. What a relief! I am hoping this means that all will be well from now on re heights.

We had a bit of difficulty organising the tickets for days and times we wanted for the BIG adventure to Machu Picchu and ended up with the two nights at Aguas Calientes option. That ended up being perfect for us as we joined Anne Marie and Ray on a bus tour of The Sacred Valley on Sunday and left the tour in the afternoon at Ollantaytambo, a small town from which trains also depart for Aquas Calientes.We caught the night train train there. It cut down on a lot of extra travelling over same paths to and from Cusco.

The Sacred Valley was again an area of great beauty and incredible mountains and very interesting ruins.There are many photos to record these places.....I wonder if the number of our photos of mountains and ruins will outdo the number of Therese´s photos of elephants!

On the train we met the French couple we had crossed the Ecuador-Peru border with in the bus, so stayed in the cheap, but adequate hostel they were in. The little lady that met them took us all to the office to buy the entrance tickets that night as it was closing, and it made a smooth start to the very early morning we needed to have to make the trip up the mountain.

We were on the second bus, at 5.40am and it was a great ride up the mountain, zigzagging along with astounding views.It was worth it to arrive in the serenity of that hour and I felt very emotional at the time. This was one the reasons we had travelled so far.....to be at Machu Picchu in the early hours of the morning.And it was all we hoped it would be! We had bought a book about the ruins and gradually explored them before the main throng of tourists arrived around 11.00.

We climbed the peak called Hayupicchu, but will have to check spelling, that overlooks the ruins and just enjoyed to sit and take it all in.Even had to use a rope to negotiate climbing a large rock.We also walked to the Inca Drawbridge, about 20 mins away.We feel now that when we see the ad with Mr and Mrs Johnson at Machu Picchu we know all about it!

One unexpected treat was to walk into one of the rooms and come across a family of four chinchillas. We have never seen these animals before. They are like a cross between a rabbit, squirrel and a chimpmonk. We didn´t worry them and they pottered around for a while then disappeared into the large mound of rocks there and one stayed up to sleepily keep guard.

We were very lucky with the weather and when we arrived we could see the snow capped mountains in the distance, which later were hidden by cloud.

We walked around the town in the late afternoon to observe lots of improvements being made. However, as the site is slipping at about a cm a month, there is talk of changes coming to limit access to Machu Picchu. This would be quite dramatic for this little place that survives on tourism.

It was good to get up early again and be on the 5.45am train back to Ollantaytambo and then a 5 sol bus back to Cusco to meet Anne Marie and Ray for a late breakfast overlooking the beautiful square.That night on the way to eat a small army band was playing and a troop of female soldiers, dressed in very European uniforms, much like those soldiers in toy sets are, practising marching routines. It drew a large crowd. At the end the women all went into the crowd and chose a partner and had a bracket of free dancing, that went on and on.

We changed hotels to Loreto Hostel which is right on the square , but on the corner of a laneway made from two Inca stone walls.

We have gone to the major sights here and today are trying to settle on what to do about a trip to the jungle, incorporating a visit to a bird clay lick.Peter is especially ruined-out and ready to get back to nature again.